I've owned mine for several months now and I'd much rather call it a tool for the job. It does not one extraordinarily well but it kind of blends in the good with the bad.
I'm not sorted out with my suspension quite yet and that out of the box is something that needs to be worked on, and when I do I will report back. I think the bike out of the box without any add-ons it is a purposeful fast bike but that's about the extent of where I would leave it. I'm faulting it very little and I'm on the the positive section right now where the bike stands now. I wouldn't say it's my favorite but it kind of falls in the middle of my pack of previous owned motorcycles.
However, I must mention that I'm having a hard time getting the satisfaction that I did from when I stepped off my R850R, R1150Gs or in some cases my Bandit 1250 or in some cases my VStom.
Those bikes were as predictable and were as close to flawless without sacrificing comfort and quality mile after mile. I really enjoyed them where the FJR is lacking that "jump-on-me-and- it-fits type feeling- It's a little long here, a little short there, and it has little things that annoy me but I guess that creates it's character. I'm all too familiar to their notchy transmissions. (Much like the cold bread and butter analogy the fellow above used) And yet their powerful fast engines and sort of quirky suspensions. I'm definitely not new to Yamaha because I've owned DH's Visions, V-Max's, FZR's, Seca's YZF's over the years and they all seem to have those certain traits with what I described above and that in essence is the Yamaha character
Don't get me wrong I like the bike for what it is and I will certainly spend a few dollars here in there to get it to fit but I usually don't spend much more than $500-$1500 for farkles . My belief is that if you spend more than that then you probably picked the wrong bike.
So as it stands right now, this is what I've noticed about the FJRr that I will always remember:
It has character alright and that it a beautiful highway mannerism and a nice job while handling the twisty stuff with plenty of steam on tap for one or two riders. That's without finding the proper suspension too. Also, it does a fine job keeping my ankles warm in cool weather and keeping my "boys" warm. The negative pressure from the windscreen keeps me in shape because now I have to do more sit-ups to strengthen my body in order to ride this beast. I have to strengthen my legs too because it is top heavy and I have to be careful when driving slow with a full tank of gas. It does a nice job getting me to point A-B at a very quick pace and it does a fair job doing this in comfort.
I haven't spent much money on this other than gas and to replace a few windshield screws from when I swapped out the Ceebailey screen from when I over torqued the plastic ones and broke one. I found a small rubber gasket on the road and I used it to replace a worn rubber piece inside my throttle lock cruise control and it works like a charm. I burned about an ounce oil in over 2K miles of riding
Once I get this thing sorted out I may keep it around for a few years. I love motorcycles and I just feel life is short to not ride a bunch of them. In my impression, Yamaha makes a good one.